Effect of internal oxidation on the microstructure and mechanical properties of vanadium alloys

This paper presents a short review of previous studies on the internal oxidation of vanadium alloys performed by the authors. These have investigated how internal oxidation affects the thermal stability of the microstructure of Zr-containing vanadium alloys and the temperature dependence of the short-term strength and plasticity characteristics of these alloys. Methods for producing highly dispersed heterophase materials stable up to temperatures close to the melting point have been substantiated. It has been shown that these methods efficiently increase the recrystallization temperature (up to T ≈ 0.8Tm) for alloys subjected to internal oxidation in high-defect-density states. In combination with the high efficiency of precipitation hardening by ultrafine ZrO2 particles, this provides a (1.5–2)-fold increase in short-term (including high-temperature, T ⩽ 1100 °C) strength of vanadium alloys while retaining good room temperature plasticity.